In 1 Corinthians 3:16-23, Paul clarifies the connection between spiritual development (growth), works, and God’s judgment of our endeavors. An accentuation here is on the prevalence of God’s wisdom in comparison to the frail knowledge of man.
Once more, Paul’s primary concern here is that we should zero in on devotion to Christ and His will, as opposed to being partitioned or divided over our loyalty to various human instructors.
What Does the Bible Say about Wisdom?
Paul summarizes his teaching on foolishness and wisdom prior in his letter (1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16). He encourages the readers not to beguile themselves. As such, he is requesting that the Corinthian Christians check their suppositions about what is valid and what is heresy.
In particular, Paul cautions the risk of needing to be insightful, or wise, or astute by the guidelines of the world. As he showed before, the world’s wisdom is restricted to what exactly can be seen with human faculties and what can be worked out dependent on those perceptions.
Individuals have no admittance to spiritual truths. They reject faith in Christ as absurdity and disregard His passing on the cross as the payment for the sins of man.
All things considered, even for the people who trust in Christ, it is enticing to need to be thought of as wise by those in society, particularly the individuals who are in positions of social standing.
We are attracted to demonstrate that we concur with their comprehension of the world, so they will respect us. Paul cautions that we should become fools according to the world, as per the wisdom of the world of this time and location.
The only way to true wisdom is to accept the wisdom of God, and that comes simply by the Word of God with the assistance of the Holy Spirit. God’s wisdom prompts unexpected comparisons to our human insight, dependent on our comprehension of that which is understandable.
This is not referring to ignorance (Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:18-23), yet an eagerness to follow God’s truth despite what the world thinks of as ridiculous. Clergymen, ministers, preachers, teachers, and Christian leaders should be prepared to be seen as foolish as indicated by the world’s principles if they desire to lead others towards the genuine wisdom of God.
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight (Isaiah 5:21).
What Is Spiritual Wisdom?
Paul encourages his audience to become foolish as per the world’s wisdom to gain true spiritual wisdom as indicated by God’s wisdom. He composes that you cannot clutch both worldly wisdom and godly wisdom simultaneously. Human wisdom and God’s wisdom repudiate one another. God knows the world’s wisdom to be foolish.
The issue here is not that people are unequipped for knowing any wisdom by any means. God places reason and proof in our lives and anticipates that we should utilize them (Psalm 19:1; Colossians 2:8). The issue with common human insight is the self-inflicted deception Paul referenced earlier.
People who are considered wise according to the world, trust themselves to be wiser than others. This includes their self-important dismissal of faith in Christ and His passing on the cross for human sin. Nonbelievers can be researchers, scholars, speakers, and educators (Romans 1:18-23).
God could not care less. Paul cites Job 5:13 to show that God captures the individuals who think themselves to be wise in their shrewdness. He knows all their apparently insightful thoughts and lessons will not assist them to escape His judgment.
If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves (Galatians 6:3).
What Is Worldly Wisdom?
One cannot clutch onto human wisdom and God’s wisdom simultaneously or in equivalent measure. They are against one another. Human insight can reach so far, and before long arrives at its cutoff (Isaiah 55:8-9).
When that cutoff is reached, dependence just on our own astuteness prompts dismissing faith in Christ and His death on the cross for our transgression. Without the disclosure of God’s truth through the Holy Spirit, an imperfect person just cannot understand it (1 Corinthians 2:14). Thus, non-believers consider it to be foolish (1 Corinthians 1:18).
Along these lines, each human-focused thought about wisdom is squandered (Colossians 2:8). Wicked suppositions depend on some unacceptable premises since they have removed God’s wisdom and faith in Christ as a probability.
Paul cites Psalm 94:11 to summarize it. The Lord knows the musings of those shrewd in human wisdom are worthless (Romans 1:18-23). All their reasoning leads them away from the truth rather than closer to it.
Without obtaining the disclosure of the spiritual truths of God from the Holy Spirit, human wisdom continues to be of no value. “The Lord knows all human plans; he knows that they are futile” (Psalm 94:11).
What Does This Mean?
Paul summarized again that human wisdom and God’s wisdom cannot exist together. Human wisdom independent of the Spirit rejects faith in Christ on the grounds that the human psyche cannot understand spiritual truth (1 Corinthians 2:14).
Paul presently composes that the individuals who are in Christ ought not to brag or boast in men. Moreover, Paul has as a priority that the Corinthians should quit dividing themselves in choosing a specific Christian leader over another (1 Corinthians 1:11-12).
This perspective depends on human astuteness, and it is pointless and useless. It is an endeavor to childishly consider themselves to be wise in their own eyes by choosing the better pioneer as their own.
Paul focuses a brilliant light on a truth that should liberate them from this: for all things are yours. All in all, why cut themselves off from any of God’s endowments or gifts to them for that of pride? God has given the Corinthians the good lessons from Paul, Apollos, and Peter.
They are agreeing to excessively little by basically announcing themselves to have a place with one educator over the other. Why not obtain the ministry of each of the three men as their own?
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32).
Paul was not advising the Corinthian Christians to disregard the quest for knowledge. He was cautioning them that common (worldly) wisdom, on the off chance that it keeps them away from God, is no insight or wisdom by any means.
God’s perspective and assessment are undeniably more significant, despite the fact that it might appear to be absurd to the world (1 Corinthians 1:27). The Corinthians were utilizing supposed common wisdom to assess their leaders and instructors.
Their pride made them value the presentation of the message more than its substance. So, the question that each of us should ask ourselves “do we value the presentation (how we present God’s Word), more than the Gospel of Christ?
For further reading:
How Is the Fear of the Lord the Beginning of Wisdom?
Why Can the Bible Only Be Understood Through the Spirit?
Why Should We Not Be Conformed to This World?
Should Christians Seek Revelation from God Apart from the Bible?
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